Mira Nair Reveals Why She Turned Down The Offer To Direct Harry Potter 4. Speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival, the 60-year-old director said despite being a big budget and "completely hot button" film, she always wanted to make it.

Critically-acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair has said her 2012 movie The Reluctant Fundamentalist, a post-9/11 political thriller based on an eponymous novel, was the "hardest" film she has ever made.

Speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival, the 60-year-old director said despite being a big budget and "completely hot button" film, she always wanted to make it.

Nair said she was moved by the narrative of the 2007 best-selling novel by Pakistani writer Mohsin Hamid.

"The Reluctant Fundamentalist is the hardest film I ever made because it took five years to finance that film. I have never had trouble raising money but this was a big film. Many stars, global appetite and many countries, it cost millions," she said.

"A completely hot button film. The story of a young Asian man post-9/11 who loved America and then gets disillusioned.

That is an amazing story. What Mohsin Hamid wrote spoke deeply to me, but to finance that film was not easy," she said.

Noting that the struggle is to preserve the voice, Nair said instinct was the only thing that differentiated her from others - and each one of us from the rest.

"What happens in Hollywood or in any mass market place is that they work on you to lose your instinct. They work on you to make you what is supposedly the mainstream. But in my case I have preserved it," she said yesterday.

The filmmaker revealed that she was approached for Harry Potter 4 ('Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'), but she turned down the offer from Warner Brothers as she had to focus on The Namesake, a film based on a novel of the same name by Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri.

"(Warner Brothers) approached me after the success of Vanity Fair. I turned it down for Jhumpa Lahiri's 'The Namesake'. I was deep into making 'The Namesake'. My mother- in-law had just passed away.

"An unexpected death due to medical malpractice and I was deep in melancholy and that is what inspired me to make 'The Namesake'. Because Jhumpa has written in it about this terrible melancholy of losing a parent in a foreign country which is what I was experiencing," Nair said.

"I was a month away from shooting 'The Namesake' when they offered me Harry Potter. I asked my son what should I do, and he said to me: 'Mamma, many good directors can make Harry Potter, but only you can make The Namesake'. It was such a clear statement," she said.

Recounting her college days, Nair said she had played Cleopatra opposite Shashi Tharoor at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, with noted novelist Amitav Ghosh being the chief slave.

"I grew up finding enchantment in small things and had an unscheduled life, not knowing exactly what to do... My roots are so strong that I do believe I can fly. They (roots) are not going to change no matter where I live. It is the rootedness that keeps me grounded," she said.

Talking about Salaam Bombay, a movie that catapulted her into limelight, Nair said it was the first Indian film to get international recognition.

"Yet, I did not have stars (in the film) to promote it.

It was all about incredible street children. 'Salaam Bombay' put India on a map like never before. The greatest thing about the film was that it changed lives," she said.

Describing herself as an Iyengar Yoga enthusiast, Nair said the ancient Indian meditation practice kept her "sane, strong and flexible".

"It keeps me grounded or otherwise I will become a drug addict... The good thing about Yoga is that it teaches the art of resistance and surrender," she said.

Commenting about her ability to spot talent and getting the best out of them, she said, "I work with my actors with love, that is how I get the best out of them".

"The stories that get under my skin, that attract me are the ones that ultimately become the theme of my movies," she added.

If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us by email at starsaskids@gmail.com

At www.bollywoodnewsstories.blogspot.com, the privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us. This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected by www.bollywoodnewsstories.blogspot.com and how it is used.

Log Files Like many other Web sites, www.bollywoodnewsstories.blogspot.com makes use of log files. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol ( IP ) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider ( ISP ), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.

Cookies and Web Beacons www.bollywoodnewsstories.blogspot.com does use cookies to store information about visitors preferences, record user-specific information on which pages the user access or visit, customize Web page content based on visitors browser type or other information that the visitor sends via their browser.

Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site.

These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to the advertisements and links that appear on www.bollywoodnewsstories.blogspot.com send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and / or to personalize the advertising content that you see.

www.bollywoodnewsstories.blogspot.com has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.

You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. www.bollywoodnewsstories.blogspot.com privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites.

If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites.

Disclaimer

All the pictures and material on this blog are assumed to be taken from public domain. The copyright (if any) of these pictures and articles belongs to their orginal publisher / photographer / copyright holder as the case may be. we claim no ownership to them

If anybody has reservations / objection on the use of these material/images or find any copy-righted material on this site, then please e-mail us at starsaskids@gmail.com giving detail of copy right etc. In case, the objections is found to be appropriate, the offensive material / pictures will be removed from this site immediately.

Any links provided or advertisements displayed on our site are for informational purposes only and we are not responsible for any damages or consequences. However, if you find any unsuitable link / advertisement, then please e-mail us giving detail of such links etc.
online